South Fork Serenade

HOMAGE TO THE FORGOTTEN

Pure Delight, No Glory

that's o.k. with us

South Fork Madison River

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.. We fish the South Fork of the Madison River more than we mention. It's full of fish.
.. It has untrammeled stretches. It's full of willow thickets. It has cute little meadow sections. It roars in places, (softly of course.)

.. This little river is not the closest, nor most easily accessed river from our front door. It's not the best fishing in the area. It's not famous for anything. It is, however, the least visited and provides the most solitary fishing experience that is close to home.
.. The spawning run from Hebgen Lake is late in the season and frequently requires a snowmachine for access.
.. During that run there is the possibility of fish larger than 7 pounds, (the way the worm folks measure.) Normally the fish are around 10" to 12" with a giant in the 14" range possible. There are many 7" & 8" fish that provide nearly constant action if you find them.
.. The river provides all the hatches of it's more famous siblings in the neighborhood. Right now the caddis are swarming and the hoppers are hopping. There seems to be more beetles here than elsewhere. Probably this is because there are only a few dirt tracks separating the forest from the water. Both spruce moths and white miller caddis are working as you read this.
.. Surprisingly deep holes dot the willow runs and it's possible to kick the trophy fish out of them before you know it.
.. If you wade the river a short rod is mandatory. If you don't wade, a very long rod is better. A strange beast is the 10½ foot four weight stick. We use one with a level 5-weight line. Works great for precision casting the short line over the willows. Bringing the fish to hand is facilitated by strong short leaders, (five to six feet long and usually 3x or 4x. The fish don't appear to be leader-shy most of the time.

.. This is a nymph fisher's paradise. The upper reaches hold stoneflies and the lower reaches have weeds for the mayflies and caddis flies. We went up, (be sure that your vehicle has adequate clearance,) to the free stone section last weekend. There were little yellow stone flies on the grass and in the air.
.. We fished the nymphs and did fine - even though there were fish on the surface. We dapped the flies next to the sparse willows and slightly undercut banks: took a couple of monster 10" fish. Fat little creatures they were. All of them had earned their wings and went airborne several times. Panic and pain is most probably a highly motivating factor for these seldom visited fish.

.. We must note that there is an insidious notion that is fostered by the hatch charts of the experts. Most of the feather merchants have a hatch chart for your perusal. The charts let us know when bugs appear at the peak of their emergence cycle. We are led to believe that this is the only time the bug is around and we must buy the right fly at the right time to be a successful catcher of fish. Well so be it.
.. The little yellow stone flies were happy to be alive and cavorting on the South Fork at least a month later than the experts would have you believe. Or, maybe they are extraterrestrials. After all there is a distinct resemblance between the two.

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South Fork Solitude

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Fishing For Geotourism

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD
WRIT LARGE

National Geographic Helps

nice map / PDF for free
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& an interesting blog or two
{click on images for larger view}

.. The National Geographic Society, the National Park Service, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, the United States Forest Service, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and the Bureau of Land Management, to name a few, have teamed up to produce a "MapGuide" for our neighborhood.
.. According to an article in the Billings Gazette there will be 100,000 free maps to inform visitors of the area's unique lands, wildlife and people. (We're as unique as it gets out here.) Sadly there is no mention of how to obtain one if you just happen to be one of the neighbors and want one too.
.. It is possible to download a PDF file of surprising detail.
-->Page one "Yellowstone Lands Map" can be downloaded HERE.
-->Page two "Yellowstone Themes Map" can be downloaded HERE.
.. These files are large and detailed. Even a 28" monitor can only display parts of them at 100% of image size.
.. You won't find any secret fishing spots, but the expansive area covered truly goes to show why this corner of the world draws visitors from around the globe. Only the highlights are detailed on the map, but as any of our neighbors, or any local Chamber of Commerce will tell you: 'It takes more than one lifetime to even scratch the surface.' There are over 800 map points included in this publication.
.. The MapGuide title is encompassing, ("Yellowstone and Beyond, an ecosystem to experience,") and the geography of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is magnificently diverse. There is also supposed to be a companion website, but the URL was not mentioned in the press report. We'll continue to search.
.. There is an 'unveiling ceremony' in Helena today, (Tuesday, March 31, 2009.) We're sending a courier to retrieve a 'free' sample.

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.. We hope this one lasts. "Old Timey Gear," is a blog about good gear, still being used today. We, however, on occasion, do pine for the 'good old days.'

MONEY QUOTE:

. . . "despite the somewhat campy title, this blog wasn’t started to be nostalgic, to pine for the “good old days” etc. - but instead to highlight gear still being made the way people used to make outdoor gear when it was equipment you truly had to depend on; maybe even would be gear that, with care, could be handed down to your children when the time came. An approach, and a pride in craftsmanship, that is all too rare these days . . ."

.. We'll be following along.

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.. We periodically check out the down under scene at BISH ON FISH. His catalog of quotes - fishing and otherwise, has reached to over 750.
.. The quotes page has a button that grabs a random quote and gives it to you - nice.
.. He just posted one that brings tears to our eyes and joy to our heart.

“There isn't any symbolism. The sea is the sea. The old man is an old man. The boy is a boy and the fish is a fish. The sharks are all sharks no better and no worse. All the symbolism that people say is shit. What goes beyond is what you see beyond when you know.”

. . . Ernest Hemingway

Say It Again George

THAT WARM FUZZY FEELING

We Pay More -- You Pay Less

be green ?
It snowed last night and this morning
opening day prognostication - tomorrow

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.. George Wurethner in NEW WEST points us to the need for careful scrutiny in the expenditure of public funds for conservation easements.
.. He argues for more transparency in the process and an explication of the "good" being done in both ecological and fiscal terms. It's well worth a read if you care about the increasing trend of land trusts subsidizing grazing on public lands. If you don't care about that, how about the price for 100 bison to graze outside Yellowstone National Park -- $1,500,000. Yes that's one point five million dollars, (this time.)
.. This comes close on the heels of our post about the Nature Conservancy adding a 4,682 acre easement to a growing easement around the Blackfoot River. It gives one pause.

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Background:

-- Ascended Masters are persons who once lived on earth. By the experience of Reincarnation, they have, through trial and testing, rid themselves of negative Karma, have become perfected, and have ascended back to their divine source or “God.” The Ascended Masters belong to a larger order consisting of Eastern Masters and Western Saints known as the White Brotherhood. White refers to the aura of white light that surrounds these ethereal beings.

When Ascended Masters find sensitive persons like Mark and Elizabeth, they use these individuals to convey their messages to others. The hearers are thus transformed and placed on the road to ascension.

When Mark Prophet was “called” to be a messenger, he distributed the Masters’ teachings in letters known as Pearls of Wisdom. When he died in 1973, Elizabeth Prophet carried on his works. She renamed the organization from Summit Lighthouse to Church Universal and Triumphant. Elizabeth now receives messages or “dictations” from the Masters and through classes, sessions, and writings, she transfers the “truths” to her hearers.

-- The Royal Teton Ranch, owned by a religious cult the Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT), is located within North America's largest wildlife migration corridor directly adjacent to Yellowstone's northern boundary.

In 1998 U.S. taxpayers spent $13 million on conservation easements to allow wildlife, including wild bison, to access these lands. The government never finalized the deal.

"Hundreds of bison are being captured and slaughtered at Yellowstone's northern boundary exclusively because of the CUT's refusal to honor the intention of the land exchange to provide needed winter range habitat for migrating bison," stated BFC's Josh Osher.

-- The violet flame works a little like soap. Soap gets dirt out of your clothes by using the positive and negative charges of atoms. It works because each of its molecules has two sides-a side that is attracted to dirt and a side that is attracted to water. The dirt-loving side attracts the dirt, like a magnet attracts paper clips when it is dragged through a box of them. The water-loving side sticks to the water, carrying the dirt with it.

When we invoke the violet flame, it sets up a polarity between the nucleus of the atom and the white-fire core of the flame. The nucleus, being matter, assumes the negative pole; the white-fire core of the violet flame, being Spirit, assumes the positive pole.

-- Although too small in landmass to provide the title “Free-ranging Yellowstone bison,” the range is released through a pact agreement and collaboration between three federal agencies, two Montana agencies, one private landowner and a coalition of four non-profit organizations. Officials announced the agreement Thursday.

-- “If everything goes right over the years and all the bison ‘behave,’ the best-case scenario will take us to Step 3 of the existing IBMP where only 100 untested bison will be allowed to use the corridor and the small acreage of public land in Zone 2 west of the river and south of Yankee Jim Canyon,” Hockett says. “Thus in a year like this one, instead of 1,300 bison being captured by the government and sent to slaughter, the government would capture 1,200 bison and dispose of them accordingly.”

-- The 2000 Interagency Bison Management Plan provided $2.8 million for the 30-year grazing lease on the Church Universal and Triumphant’s (CUT) Royal Teton Ranch, but APHIS Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Bruce Knight says his agency will not be able to provide the $1.5 million needed to meet state and private funds. APHIS currently has a $9 million budget to manage the disease brucellosis. The lease was intended to allow increased bison tolerance by allowing animals exiting the park to access winter forage on the CUT’s property.

-- The combination of continued population growth in Montana’s valleys and insufficient legal regulations for rivers has county governments across western and southwestern Montana, including Missoula, wrestling with potential streamside setback regulations. Last year the state legislature briefly considered a state-wide setbacks bill before deciding the issue should be handled at the county level.

-- The grazing association has leased the Plum Creek land for grazing for 45 years. “That ground was an important part of our operation,” according to Stew Schwartz of the grazing association. “If the Plum Creek land was subdivided, it would have put a lot more people and houses in the middle of our cows and that doesn’t make running cows any easier. We’ve all had to give a little to make it work, but I think it’s going to be great,” added Schwartz.

.. Say it again George. There seem to be concerns here that have very little to do with bison or trout. It's America; its $$$$$.